It’s Saturday, which means I’m officially {again} a day late for my Five Minute Friday post. But I am here and I am ready to join my fellow FMF-ers in sharing our thoughts. Check them out at Kate’s place (http://katemotaung.com/2015/02/19/five-minute-friday-open/). You’ll be surprised how deep and thought-provoking some of the focused writing is … in just five minutes!

Well, here goes. This week’s prompt is OPEN. I was a little reticent about the direction the prompt led, but then I figured this is where I am being led. So, here goes. The time is set. GO …

I’m not a big fan of altar calls — especially at large crusades or revivals. I’m not a big fan of proselytizing.

I recognize a need, but I always get that queasy feeling the euphoria of “bringing souls to Christ” is more for the doer rather than the receiver. And I would love to be a fly in the life of those newly won souls. Were they caught up in the exhilaration of the moment? Or were they really touched? How was their life changed?

I think, instead, it’s our job not to convert, but to open the hearts and minds of our family, friends, neighbors and co-workers to our God. Our job is to open the door; it’s their job to walk through. God will take care of the rest.

I admire those who can reach thousands at a time or even hundreds or even tens or even one with their smooth talk. But … STOP

at least in my humble mind, it is not about what we say or what we preach that opens the heart of others, it is about what we do and how we act. I can go to the theater or concert and be overcome with emotion. But I have to live life in the real world. Those “souls” are looking at how I react day by day. They’re not listening to the words of Jesus I parrot, but how I am living those words. That walk tells them more about my Jesus {I hope} than a thousand bible passages. That walk — that witness — is what opens the heart and soul. May my walk — our walk — be that witness.

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: He has done more for me than He will ever ask of me.

5 Responses to Five Minute Friday — Open

In 2004 I read this quote and typed it up and taped it on my keyboard so I would see it and live it. “Live your life in such a way that those who don’t know God will want to know him because they know you.” I don’t know where I read it, but that one line changed the way I looked at my role in being a light in the world. Thank you again for sharing you 5 minutes of wisdom with us who make soul searching a regular habit.

Thank you so much for your words today. We do get our roles mixed up when we think it is all up to us to get people to walk through the door of faith. Our job is to live in such a way that the way to Jesus is opened to the seeker. And then God does His work in their hearts and minds to lead them through. (That might be through us; it might not be.) Blessings to you today as you live your witness.